Even top brokers have trouble selling their homes. After more than two years on the market, Ilan Bracha, a founder of Keller Williams NYC and head of an eponymous top-grossing team, has finally unloaded his Trump Place apartment for $2.39 million — about $300,000 less than his initial asking price, city property records show. [more]

A New York State appellate court ruled 5 to 0 that former Attorney General Andrew Cuomo correctly ordered refunds to 41 buyers at the Rushmore, a luxury condominium on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

The development team, Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners, had appealed a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Anil Singh, who previously affirmed the ruling by Cuomo, which involved the rescission of more than $16 million in escrow deposits. [more]

After passing through three owners and countless lawsuits, the neighborhood taking root in the massive developments along Riverside Boulevard on the Upper West Side is beginning to mature.

The New York Times cited Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group data that show prices and sales pace in the area far outpacing the market. The average price per square foot of a Riverside Boulevard condominium increased 10 percent year-over-year to $1,552 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to a 4 percent gain to $1,417 in Manhattan as a whole. [more]

Riverside South, the 77-acre former rail yard-turned condominiums between 59th and 72nd streets, is seeing an uptick in sales, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Aldyn, at 63rd Street and West End Avenue, is 50 percent sold, and the Rushmore, at Riverside Boulevard and 64th Street, is 90 percent sold, the Journal said. Both buildings are around 40 stories. In the third quarter of 2011 the average price for condominiums on Riverside Drive rose 19 percent, the Journal said, to $1,470 per square foot. … [more]

Douglaston Development’s the Edge in Brooklyn was the most successful New York City residential development in the third quarter of 2011 in terms of number of units sold, according to data from PropertyShark.com.

Seventy units were sold in total at the Edge between July and September, with a median sales price of $705,229. It is also the most successful development of the year so far, the data shows, with 215 units selling at the property so far in 2011.

As The Real Deal reported earlier this year, the Edge, which is being marketed by MNS, sold more units by June than any New York City residential building did in all of 2010. — Katherine Clarke … [more]

Clockwise from top left: Extell Development President Gary Barnett, the Rushmore and Carlyle Group co-founder William ConwayAttorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office faced off with lawyersrepresenting Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners yesterday asa Manhattan Supreme Court judge heard what may be the final argumentsin a long-running effort to overturn a $16 million escrow dispute at theRushmore condominium.

Judge Anil Singh was urged to overturn the April 2010 ruling by formerAG Andrew Cuomo, who ordered the developers to refund $16 millionin deposits to 41 buyers at the luxury condo building at 80 RiversideBoulevard close to 64th Street.

The case centers on whether the developers missed a Sept. 1, 2008 deadlineto close the first sale at the 289-unit building, or whether a scrivener’serror in the offering plan mistakenly included the wrong date, which thedevelopers insist should have been Sept. 1, 2009, giving them a one-yearwindow to finish construction and close the first deal. … [more]

Clockwise from left: Actor Robin Williams, the exterior of the Rushmore and the interior of the apartment

Comedian and actor Robin Williams has just moved out of his digs at the Rushmore at 80 Riverside Boulevard after staying there for a six-month stint during the run of his Broadway show “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” according to Michael Arcos and David Tobon of Blu Realty. The star of “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Patch Adams” paid $15,000 a month for the 2,459-square-foot, four-bedroom, they said.

The apartment has now been rented to Matteo Battaini, CEO of Pirelli Tires in North America, the Blu agents and co-founders, who represented both the landlord and tenant in the deal, said. The owner’s identity was not immediately clear.

Williams is certainly not the first celebrity to have fallen for the charms of the Rushmore. … [more]

From left: R&B artist Joe and Blu Realty Group co-founder Alon Chadad; Joe with guests from the National Committee For the Furtherance of Jewish Education, including chairman Rabbi Shea Hecht on the right; Blu Realty Group co-founders Alon Chadad and David Tobon

The Real Deal made the rounds at a pair of real estate gatherings last night, including a charity event at Trump Place on the Upper West Side sponsored by Blu Realty Group, and a wine and cheese celebration party for the opening of MNS’ new Chelsea office. At Trump Place, Blu took a few minutes from helping to raise money for Toys for Hospitalized Kids to discuss their new office opening in the building’s base and introduce a few music celebrities to guests, which were largely real estate pros.Meanwhile, TRD checked out MNS’ wine and cheese party also held last night to celebrate the opening of its new Chelsea office at 189 Eighth Avenue. Sales director Fabrizio Uberti Bona told us he recently sold an apartment for an executive at the concert and ticketing company Live Nation and after he succeeded, the client hooked him and his wife up with tickets to a Beyonce concert. – Adam Fusfeld and Miranda Neubauer … [more]

Kedar Massenburg, the former Motown Records president who launched thecareers of Erykah Badu and D’Angelo among others, recently rented anapproximately 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment overlooking the Hudson River at the Avery on the Upper West Side, TheReal Deal has learned. Massenburg and his broker, Alon Chadad, co-founder of BLU Realty Group, would not disclose the rent, but said Massenberg did not negotiate onprice. Comparable apartments in the condominium at 100 Riverside Boulevard rented in the last month for about$9,800 per month, Streeteasy.com shows. … [more]

MetLife has grabbed a 2 percent share of New York’s residential mortgage market just as rock-bottom lending rates and rising consumer confidence begin to spur home sales, according to Crain’s. The nation’s largest life insurer, with $55.9 billion in revenues, is planning a measured approach to growth in its hometown.

“As a new lender, we don’t have the baggage of the past,” said Tony Clintock, northeast regional sales leader for the residential mortgage division of the bank.

The move into the residential market has been in the works since 2008 when MetLife acquired the residential mortgage business from Tennessee-based First Horizon National. Since then, the sales force has grown to 40, covering all five boroughs. Most of its volume comes from financing sales at dozens of new condo developments where the bank acts as the projects’ preferred lender,such as Extell Development’s the Aldyn and the Rushmore. … [more]

A floorplan for the $55 million combination spread, Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, who used to rent the lesser of the two units, and the exterior of 15 Central Park West

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has officially moved out of his blockbuster 15 Central Park West rental, but those hoping to snag his place are out of luck — at least until next year.

Leroy Schecter, the steel mogul who owns both A-Rod’s former unit and the one next door, and who has been trying to sell them for a combined $55 million since last March, pulled the listing from the market this week. Emily Beare, the Core broker in charge of marketing the 35th-floor condominiums on Schecter’s behalf, told The Real Deal that the owner is planning to physically combine the units in an attempt to generate higher offers. … [more]

For the second year in a row, the sales team at the Rushmore, a 289-unit condominium at 80 Riverside Boulevard on the Upper West Side, took home Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group’s top prize at the firm’s annual awards. The team, comprised of Lynne Brown, Lena Nusimow, Graham Spearman, Aidan Sullivan and Melissa Ziweslin, was the top-selling group in the company, with $179 million in closings last year. The deal of the year, meanwhile, was presented to the 101 Warren Street sales team (Heather Cook and Angeli Dahiya) for closing on the building’s last unit, the Skyhome 3460, for $13 million. During the awards ceremony, Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine, said that the company closed on $1.73 billion worth of new residential development in 2010, up from $1.6 billion the prior year. TRD … [more]

Residential brokerage the Corcoran Group held its annual company awards ceremony this week, honoring some of its top-producing teams and agents. Lauren Muss was named the Individual Salesperson of the Year, while the Carrie Chiang Team was honored as the Top Team of the Year. Janet Wilkinson took home the Rookie of the Year prize. At Corcoran Sunshine, the top-selling onsite sales team was comprised of Graham Spearman, Aidan Sullivan, Melissa Ziweslin, Lynne Brown and Lena Nusimow, who work at Extell Development’s the Rushmore, at 80 Riverside Boulevard between 64th and 65th streets. TRD

Clockwise, from top left: the Toren, One Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Forte and Warehouse 11

New condominiums in Brooklyn are leading the way in sales activity so far this year, according to PropertyShark, which released a list of the top-selling New York City apartment buildings so far this year (click here to see the full list). The Toren and One Brooklyn Bridge Park, both in Downtown Brooklyn, saw the first- and second-most units sold in the first three quarters of the year, unloading 99 and 88 units, respectively. TRD … [more]

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a motion Friday to dismiss a last-minute lawsuit to block the return of $16 million in escrow funds at the Rushmore condominium, arguing that developers Carlyle Realty Partners and Extell Development cannot use federal courts to resolve a local dispute. The judge added that they failed to appeal the ruling in state Supreme Court, which is the normal procedure to appeal an AG ruling.

Cuomo’s office noted that lawyers for Carlyle and Extell, operating under the name CRP/Extell at the Upper West Side project, never challenged the AG’s authority to handle such matters during the 14-month investigation and never once complained about a lack of due process, during multiple face-to-face meetings with the AG’s office.

The move by CRP/Extell, wrote assistant AG Andrew Meier, who is representing Cuomo in the case, was done merely to deny the purchasers “rights of rescission and the return of their deposits to which they are entitled based upon the plain language of the plan that the plaintiff itself created and promulgated, simply because it is unhappy with the results of the process — not because the process was unfair.” … [more]

In a last minute and stunning move, the developers of the Upper West Side’s Rushmore condominium filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo seeking to reverse his April rescission order to refund more than $16 million in escrow funds to buyers.

The developers, Extell Development and Carlyle Realty Partners, operating under the name CRP/Extell, also filed a motion in U.S. District Court seeking a temporary restraining order that would block the release of the funds, which include down payments for more than $110 million worth of apartments.

The developers expanded on their previous claims by arguing that a drafting attorney committed a typo or “scrivener’s error,” and claimed that Cuomo’s office failed to allow them to collect evidence or cross-examine the condo buyers on their true motivations for filing the claims, which CRP/Extell claims were to negotiate lower prices in a down market. … [more]

Extell Development President Gary Barnett conceded defeat after the state attorney general ordered him to release 41 buyers from disputed contracts at the 289-unit Rushmore condominium (click here to see the attorney general’s decision). “We’re not happy about this but we never expected many of these people to close at this point,” Barnett told The Real Deal in a telephone interview. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ended a 14-month dispute at the Rushmore, located at 80 Riverside Boulevard, after buyers alleged the developer failed to begin closing apartments by a Sept. 1, 2008 deadline. Extell has argued that the missed deadline was due to a “typo” and that closings at the Rushmore were supposed to commence closing a year later, but the AG states not only that Extell failed to back up the claim, but that the alleged error should not negate the buyer’s claims. … [more]

Gary Barnett has his hands full with the recent $170 million acquisition of the Helmsley Carlton House hotel on Madison Avenue, the looming threat of millions of dollars in forced rent refunds at his luxe Upper West Side renovation project, the Belnord, and a flurry of lawsuits from buyers trying to back out of their contracts at his 80 Riverside Boulevard condominium, the Rushmore. Still, the Extell Development head has benefited from a cautious approach to real estate over the past decade, putting down 20 percent on many of his boom-time acquisitions, while his peers were going in on as little as 5 percent. So despite his recent challenges, it’s not a stretch to say that Barnett is among the most prolific real estate developers in the city, as Crain’s does in a profile of the developer this week. His roster of current projects alone includes the almost-finished 535 West End Avenue condo, the 34-story International Gem Tower going up at 44 West 47th Street, the massive Riverside Center complex planned for the Upper West Side waterfront, to name a few. As for his personal life, a cagey Barnett refused to tell Crain’s his age (53, sources say), his wife’s name (Ayala, according to public records), or how many children he has (more than five, say the sources).

New York City condos are seeing unseasonably high buyer interest, with buildings like RAL Companie’s One Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Rushmore reportedly seeing more interested buyers in part because buyers feel the market has stabilized. After a new sales team, the Developers Group, took over at One Brooklyn Bridge Park Oct. 1, 20 new contracts were signed, with more than 100 visitors coming to look at the waterfront development each week, according to the Daily News. At the Rushmore, which has reportedly been experiencing buyer backouts, Extell Development said that 12 apartments have gone into contract over the past two months and that 11 more are in negotiation. Gary Barnett, Extell’s president, told the Daily News that buyer sentiment has improved, which is helping to move units. “The overall market has picked up, people have a better feeling that New York real estate is starting to steady,” Barnett said. “There is no new inventory, and buyers who have been looking know a good opportunity.”